If you've never been to a PechaKucha event, prepare yourself for a whirlwind of informative speakers, engaging content, and new perspectives on a wide variety of content. 20 images are shown for 20 seconds each while presenters talk about corresponding topics. The format of has gone global, and PKN Seattle never disappoints.

Seattle, as many readers are probably aware, has a deep and rich history of being what many consider to be the birthing ground of alternative comics in the 1970's with creators like Charles Burns, Matt Groening, and Lynda Barry. With remarks from their contemporaries, and from those who have been influenced by them, like Max Clotfelter, Tom Van Deusen, and Kelly Froh, this event is a must go to for any fan of the history of comics, art, and Washington State.

EAFA, also known as the Evergreen Association of Fine Arts, and formerly known as Eastside Association of Fine Arts, is throwing down big names for their first discussion panel of 2015. Joining them onstage will be champion local favorites, Jim Woodring, Megan Kelso, and Eroyn Franklin. These award winning artists have had their hands, heart and soul in the business of comics for years, and are imparting their experiences, triumphs, and lessons learned onto an eager audience.

Woodring, known for his technicolor dream comics featuring iconic characters like Frank and Fran, his latest release, Jim, features an alter-ego version of himself, collected through comics, poetry and prose. Fellow Fantagraphics cartoonist, Megan Kelso is the author of The Squirrel Mother, Queen of the Black and Artichoke Tales, which won two Ignatz Awards in 2007. And woman about town Eroyn Franklin, known for her graphic novels, Detained, and Another Glorious Day at the Nothing Factory. Franklin has received support from The Xeric Foundation, 4Culture, Artist Trust, and Allied Arts Foundation for her work. She is also a co-creator of the well-loved Seattle comics festival, Short Run!

The EAFA had been supporting Puget Sound area artists since 1975 through exhibitions, galleries, lectures, and community involvement, in the effort of promoting the work of our diverse population of artists. You can support them by becoming a member, or support them by coming to their comics panel with these lovely artists, tomorrow (Jan. 27th 2015) at the EAFA Gallery at the Seattle Design Center. Event begins at 12 pm, (noon!) and is $10 for members or students, and $20 for the general public; tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets.

Seattle, WA - Our very own Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery is overflowing with events and community this Saturday where we will be opening our newest exhibit, Blacklight: The World of L.B. Cole. Joined by Fantagraphics editor, Mike Catron who will be giving a slide show presentation on the beautifully reprinted covers by L.B. Cole, a master of primary colors. If you thought that was enough for one day, you thought wrong. French artist collective Le Cagibi brings with them an engaging, entertaining, and FREE workshop that delves into the process of screenprinting. Their inventive techniqes on printing and binding have made them an important fountain of information for anyone looking to DIY their own work. All the festivities begin at 6 PM! (More Details)

Brooklyn, NY - The Scott Eder Gallery doesn't hold their art collection back, and it's only the best for their fans and patrons! Which is why they're premiering a new collection of paintings and drawings from the dreamworld master himself, Jim Woodring. The exhibit You Drive! begins with an opening reception on January 10th at 6 pm with Woodring in attendance. If you can't make it to this star studded appearance, the exhibit will be running until February 27th, where you can gawk, get inspired, and even purchase original art! Or pick up the next best thing, Jim, the collected autobiographical work. You can walk, train, or drive to The Scott Eder Gallery this Saturday. (More Details)

New Orleans, LA - Marguerite Van Cook and partner, James Romberger are special guests at this year's Wizard World: NOLA edition. The pair have been blazing across the country showcasing their newest release, Late Child and Other Animals, a gorgeous semi-autobiographical tale of generational relationships, history, and how we move forward. They will be there Saturday AND Sunday; show floor is open from 10-7. I expect an ol' fashioned New Orleans parade with cosplay, and trust that someone will get one started. (More Details)

Monday, January 12th

NYC - It's not just in the name, the extremely affable Lucy Knisley will be hitting up the best bookstore in New York, The Strand, in conversation with columnist Marie Anello of Absolute Magazine. They will be focusing on Lucy's two latest releases with Fantagraphics, An Age of License and her newest, Displacement. Displacement is a true tale of growing up and growing old, two things every person must come to terms with. Her honesty and self-reflection is touching, and will be the topic of this night's discussion. Stick around afterwards for a signing, where you can pick up Displacement before it hits the shelves! The evening begins at 7 pm (More Details)

The time is drawing nigh! The Scott Eder Gallery is proud to unveil a new Jim Woodring art show You Drive!this Saturday, January 10th at their storefront (18 Bridge St. #2i) in Brooklyn. Should you be in attendance opening night, the reception will being at 6pm on the dot and Woodring himself will be there. More details here but you know you want to go and immerse yourself in his world.

Can't make it out? You can always call the gallery and buy a/ALL the paintings (718.797.1100)! You can also enjoy his latest comics collection, JIM, currently garnering rave reviews.

The heat is on as Jim Woodring pushes the pedal to the metal at the Scott Eder Gallery this January with a whole show of new paintings and drawings. For the glamourous and sophisticated, visit the gallery for the opening night reception January 10th at 6pm when Woodring will be in attendance! The show will continue to be on display from January 10th through the month of February (until the 27th). Woodring recently won the Pennsylvania Center for the Book's Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize for his graphic novel, Fran, and has been promoting his new comics collection, JIM. So get yourself in gear on Saturday, January 10th and explore the depths of Jim Woodring's genius mind.

Los Angeles, CA - The Hip Hop Family Tree Volume 2 tour continues down the West Coast as Ed Piskor heads to Meltdown Comics. BoingBoing Founder Mark Frauenfelder will be in conversation with Piskor in the infamous Nerdmelt Room (made popular by many a cartoonist and the Meltdown comedy show) plus a special guest DJ will make sure the comic shop is bumpin' with beats. Leave work a little early and hit up the shop from 4-6pm for a rad time. (more details)

Wednesday, November 19th

Penn State - Prepare your mind and soul for Jim Woodring as he accepts his Lynn Ward Graphic Novel Prize on the Penn State Campus. From 4-5:30pm, Woodring will receive accolades and give a talk on Fran, Frank and the Unifactor in the Foster Auditorium (102 Paterno Library). This is a once in a life-time chance for students and the public, who knows, you might even get extra credit! (more details)

Thursday, November 20th

San Francisco, CA - West Coast, give your best to Ed Piskor on his last tour stop this side of the Mississippi. Appearing at City Lights for a 7pm signing, you'll wanna see the cartoonist who made hip hop and comics coexist before he gets back to his drawing board to make more Hip Hop Family Tree comics happen! (more details)

In less than a week you could be glued to your seat listening to Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize winner Jim Woodring give a talk on Fran at The Pennsylvania Center for the Book. On Wednesday, November 19th, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library at Penn State from 4-5:30pm, Woodring will be speaking about his intricate story-telling and world-buildling that cuminated in this surreal and cyclical story of Fran and earning the Lynd Ward Prize. Congratulations, Jim!

This event is free to the public thanks to these sponsors: University Libraries, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, the Dorothy Foher Huck Chair, Library Learning Services and the English Department.

For more information or if you have questions about physical access provided or need to make arrangements for special accomodations at the site, contact Caroline Wermuth at
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or 814.863.5472.

Oh man, we can hear your double-lined pockets jangling from all the coins to purchase our books this weekend at Short Run, the hottest one day comics show on this coast! We have some FANTASTIC debut comics and graphic novels for you as well as two outta town guests. You'll find two of our finest cartoonists right next to us, Ed Piskor (M59) and Simon Hanselmann. Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 2 and the Box Set are a hit across the country while Hanselmann's practically sold out of Megahex, so you should scoop one up QUICK! Local cartoonist and legend, Jim Woodring, will also be signing at the Fantagraphics table. Pick up a copy of his latest and greatest collection, JIM, while you're at the Short Run as well!

Signing schedule (a little subject to change but we're all friends!)

11-1: Simon Hanselmann

1-3: Jim Woodring

3-5: Simon Hanselmann

Don't forget to say hi to Josh Simmons at C13.

We'll be located at table M60 on the first floor when you come into Washington Hall.

Follow along as Olivier's grandfather traveled to a remote colony to help build a utopia in the wilderness, fell in love with his cousin's wife, and then into delirium - but is it love or jungle virus-induced fever, reality or imagination? You'll come undone by Olivier's first full-length graphic novel: part-biography, part-surrealscape, all fantastic. $34.99 Out in November 2014.

Cochlea & Eustachia by Hans RickheitCochlea & Eustachia appear to be twin human girls, but this has yet to be confirmed. Their actions seem to be motivated less by curiosity than boredom and an inclination towards purposeless destruction. This new graphic novel from the author of the acclaimed Squirrel Machine is lighter in tone than his previous works, yet its myriad charms remain as sinister as Rickheit fans would expect. $19.99 Out in stores December 2014 but pick up an advance at the Fantagraphics table at Short Run.

A travel memoir recounting the artist's experience of caring for her frail grandparents aboard a cruise ship, while reflecting on her own fears on mortality, her age, ageism in America and her family's relationships and history. $19.99 In stores February 2015 but pick up an advance copy at the Fantagraphics table at Short Run.

A "best of the rest" tribute collecting Stack's work under his pseudonym, "Foolbert Sturgeon". Includes appearances by Dirty Diana, time traveler Frank Crankcase, Dr. Feelgood, and others. A tribute to a Texan who's been quietly creating observational, iconoclastic art for more than forty years. $24.99 In stores December 2015 but pick up an advance copy at the Fantagraphics table at Short Run.

The Complete ZAP Comix by R. Crumb, Rick Griffin, Paul Mavrides, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton, Robert Williams, S. Clay Wilson The most historically and aesthetically important comics series ever, finally collected. There scarcely was an underground comics world before Robert Crumb's classic solo first issue of Zap in 1968. By Zap #2, he had begun assembling a Seven Samurai of the best, the fiercest, and the most stylistically diversified cartoonists to come out of the countercultural kiln. It will also include the 17th unpublished issue with work by Crumb, Moscoco, Wilson, Rodriguez, Shelton, Mavrides, and Williams. We'll have one set for you to paw over. $500.00 In stores late December but pick up this ONE copy at Short Run.

The Great American Mythological Drama depicted by way of rich mixtures of myths and facts, dreams and reality, belief and disbelief, throughout a haunted landscape populated by the ghosts of a complex and rich fictional tapestry. $39.99 In stores now but pick up a copy at the Fantagraphics table at Short Run.

Big, burly, lascivious, and soft around the edges: welcome to the hyper-masculine world of Japanese gay comics. The first English-language anthology of its kind: a collection of manga from the most talented and influential artists in the gei komi genre. $35.99 In stores late December but pick up this advance copy at Short Run.

Four decades of deliberate DIY cartoon rebellion! Collecting some of the best mini comics ever produced by some of the most creative artists in the world (stats: artwork from over 50 artists in 848 pages of artwork, including the 8-page underground sex comic "Tijuana Bibles.") Cover by Esther Pearl Watson 29.99 In stores January but pick up an advance copy at the Fantagraphics table at Short Run.

Seeking an ascetic life in the desert away from today's noisy and noisome world, Nick is seduced by the spectacular and mesmerizing spectacle of the procession of the Queen of Saba. A fantasia of delightful philosophical mind games. $24.99 In stores late November but pick up an advance copy at the Fantagraphics table at Short Run.

The Pennsylvania Center for the Book is thrilled to present Jim Woodring with the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize for his graphic novel, Fran. Woodring will be 4 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library at Penn State. As described by the jury, "Hypnotic and subliminal while entertaining and compelling, ‘Fran's' dream world is at once familiar and unsettling, a conduit to mental states that, in many ways, only the graphic novel can achieve. Woodring's work poses a refreshing change from the trend towards wordy graphic memoir, entreating the reader to reckon with a world whose language we cannot capture in our own."

So you too can be transported to the Unifactor to visit Frank, Fran, Pupshaw and Pushpaw during Woodring's talk and acceptance speech. For more information about the PA Center for the Book and past winners, visit their site. The Paterno Library is located along intercampus road Curtin Rd and N. Allen Street. Grab your own copy of Fran today!

Joyce Farmer of Special Exits had the pleasure to announce Woodring as the recipient of this year's award. Sponsored by Penn State University Libraries and administered by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize is presented annually to the best graphic novel, fiction or non-fiction, published in the previous calendar year by a living U.S. or Canadian citizen or resident. A prize of $2,500, the two volume set of Ward's six novels published by the Library of America, and a suitable commemorative will be presented to 2014 winner, Jim Woodring, for his book "Fran."

For more information about Woodring's presentation or if you have questions about the physical access provided or need to make arrangements for special accommodations at the Penn State site, contact Caroline Wermuth at
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or 814-863-5472.

Check out the full list of books below, and snap one up while you can. Some of these are in very limited supply!

Beasts! Book 1 by various artists; edited by Jacob Covey

A classic mythological menagerie, comprised of creatures that were thought at one time to actually exist, depicted by about a hundred acclaimed artists and cartoonists. Now in softcover after 2 sold-out hardcover editions.

Like the first book, this deluxe collection includes a Who’s Who of the contemporary art world, collectively crafting a menagerie of mythological creatures, monsters, beasts and things that go bump in the night.

One of the most impressive graphic novel debuts in recent years, a sweeping, magisterially conceived, visually startling tale of violence, amorality, fortitude, and redemption, one part Melville, one part Peckinpah.

Ott plunges into the darkness with five graphic horror stories in his hyper-detailed scratchboard style. Ott's plot twists will delight fans of classic horror; his artwork will haunt you long after you put the book down.

A fascinating, full-color compendium of extremely rare devil postcards spanning approximately 1898 through the 1950s, with over 150 full-color examples of these exquisite cards, culled from the finest postcard collections throughout the world.

A glorious bastard, combining the intricacy and subtlety of the best European comics with a hyperdetailed, controlled noir style derived from the finest American cartoonists into interrelated tales of (mostly) interiorized violence.

The second installment in this creepily sexy suburban soap opera — a sprawling and intricate tale of a community haunted by obsession, rage, regret and despair — in sum, a graphic novel for the 21st century.

A crew of undead pirates roams the seven seas, seeking release from their cursed existence. After one murderous conquest, they find a little pink baby who they adopt as their "King." A classic tale newly adapted by a French master.

Night is coming and the local baby-sitters club needs an extra sitter. That strange new family in town is expecting four warm bodies... Peculia, that mysterious and clever young waif, returns in her first full-length story!

This gorgeous grimoire is part alchemy, part art book, part storybook, part comic book, and part conceptual art, a broken jigsaw puzzle of a book starring two childlike imps whose irresponsible antics get them into horrific trouble.

Woodring's drawings take his comics' otherworldly qualities to new levels of clarity and nuance, exploring hidden worlds, alternate realities and the inexplicable resonance of the unprecedented and irrational in lucid art.

Classic stories starring Dog Boy and Mister Blister, as well as several tales of doomed romance and creepy revulsion, plus a collection of sketchbook excerpts, covers and illustrations, in an affordable softcover edition!

He lives hand to mouth, this shambling lug of a man, wrestling with his demons and drinking himself into oblivion. Until one day his palms begin to bleed… A stunning, madly expressionistic graphic novel.

Expanded to twice the length of the original edition and completely redesigned, this intimate, revealing look into the life and art of an American original is an essential book for all Gorey fans and scholars.

25 classic horror stories involving swamps, maniacs, and dismemberment by the artist so good at gruesome, grisly depictions of the endless corruption of flesh and nature he earned the nickname "Ghastly."

'Tain't the Meat… It's the Humanity! and Other Stories by Jack Davis & Al Feldstein

Good Lord! Choke! The complete Jack Davis-illustrated Tales from the Crypt stories collected in one convenient, gore-drenched package! The quintessential American horror comic drawn by its quintessential artist.

Reed's song cycle inspired by Edgar Allan Poe is in turn interpreted by Mattotti as a series of vivid, abstracted and enigmatic paintings that bring out all the terror and beauty of this centuries-spanning masterwork.

A creepy-cute all-ages tale about a couple of kids at a Halloween party who stumble into a secret underground society of damaged, forgotten, and pissed-off toys. Imagine Toy Story reimagined by David Lynch & Charles Burns!

For the first time, 33 of the best stories from Kubert's early career, collected in one full-color volume, in a glorious variety of genres with a special emphasis on horror and crime. Meticulously restored, with historical notes.